


Undo

by ravenarc



Series: One Shots [8]
Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: AU, Angst, Assassin - Freeform, Assassin AU, Assassins & Hitmen, Blood, Death, Knives, Light Angst, M/M, Sad, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-08 22:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18904324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenarc/pseuds/ravenarc
Summary: Mark wishes life had an undo button. It would make dumb decisions safer. It would make traumatic events disappear. It would make friends come back.





	Undo

**Author's Note:**

> One shot, so of course there's not much background story (you can make it up lmao) but anyways. I haven't written anything good in forever and I've kind of failed all my stories so I'm posting this just to move on :) I'll try to do better in the future <3

Mark’s black clothing is skin tight, but even that layer of warmth isn’t enough to fight the chill in the air, nipping at his neck and the back of his thighs. His boots are heavy, and each step is muffled with the thick leaves of autumn. If Mark had an ‘undo’ button in life, he would undo his decision to wear combat boots tonight and trade them in for sneakers. He takes a deep breath in, and out comes a puff of grey in the darkness. Mark’s limbs are buzzing in time with the electric pulses from his right ear where the communication device is embedded, and he raises his hand up to press against it. The little beep lets him know he’s live, and he stops moving before he speaks, the trees around him looming just that much more than before.

“Hyuck I’m less than fifty meters from the checkpoint, update me.” His tone is breathy, a shiver escaping down his spine. Mark clutches the hilt of his knife a little tighter as the weak winds pick up a little more. He knows that just a ways further there should be an outpost manned by two fighters, but if Donghyuck has done his job they should be-

taken  _ care  _ of, so to speak.

His anxiety grows with the silence as the seconds span longer between the time Mark finished speaking and before he can waste anymore time he pushes forwards. If the fighters are still around he can take them, that doesn’t bother him in the least.

But Donghyuck’s silence does.

Mark turns his walk into a light jog, ignoring the way the leaves stop muffling and instead begin to crunch with each step. It won’t matter if Hyuck is in trouble-

_ “-orry Mark-”  _ The boy’s voice crackles over the earpiece so suddenly Mark almost cries out in surprise, but the sound of Hyuck sends a wave of relief through Mark so powerful his knees almost give out.  _ “Sorry, yes, the guys are gone,”  _ Mark starts walking again, his hand flying back up towards his ear. 

“You had me scared as fuck there for a second-”

_ “I know I know I’m sorry- it just took- longer than expected.”  _ Mark frowns. 

Something doesn’t sound right at all.

“Donghyuck what’s wrong?” He wastes no time, because Mark knows his teammate and he knows that Donghyuck never struggles to speak. The way he cuts himself off is unnatural, and it’s something that the goosebumps popping up on Mark’s arms have no control over. There’s another silence but it’s shorter this time. 

_ So  _ much shorter.

_ “I’m hurt.” _

Mark has never run faster. He knows that if the fighters are gone there’s no reason to be quiet, and he knows that if Donghyuck is going to admit to anything then something is horribly wrong. In seconds the outpost is visible and Mark only speeds up further, gripping his knife in his left hand so tight his knuckles turn white. He’s not sure what he’s planning on fighting, but it makes him feel just a tad safer. 

“I’m coming- just seconds away don’t move-”

_ “Not- planning on it.”  _ Mark reaches the door, just a little wooden thing that pales against the concrete making up the rest of the tiny observation cube. It’s already cracked open- probably Donghyuck’s doing- and Mark wastes no time to burst inside.

It takes him a couple seconds for his eyes to adjust in the more concentrated darkness, and the terror in his throat only tightens when he spots a figure backlit by the moon, sitting on the edge of the table in the very centre of the room. Mark almost falls into an offensive stance before realizing that it is, in fact, his young friend. Hyuck lifts his head, and with the silver light dancing behind him Mark can only see the telltale glimmer of blood dripping all down the left side of it. Mark hesitates for just a second, honestly a little confused. Donghyuck doesn’t look as bad as he had initially sounded. His friend’s arms are crossed tightly against his chest, an unusual stance but mundane at the least, and he clears his throat before he nods to his right, Mark’s eyes following.

“They’re there.” He says, and Mark takes a step towards the pool of crimson on the floor. The bodies lay on their backs, stabbed and with blood- well  _ everywhere.  _

“Nice Hyuck-”

“Hyung can you- come here.” Donghyuck’s voice breaks and that’s what makes Mark freeze. He’s a few feet away, turned in the direction of the bodies. He pivots slowly, making eye contact with Hyuck in the eerie silence. Fear prickles the ends of his fingertips, dread dripping into them. Hyuck doesn’t move, staying in exactly the same spot as he had been when Mark had arrived, arms still tucked up against him. Mark tucks his knife into it’s sheath on his hip, stepping towards Hyuck. Hyuck’s condition gets worse with each step forwards.

Blood streaks down from his face, but that’s not what alarms Mark the most. It’s the tear tracks, the little cracks that tell more of the story. Donghyuck doesn’t cry. And as Mark gets closer, it’s easier to analyze the way Hyuck  _ breathes.  _ It’s slow,  _ so  _ slow, and it’s careful and controlled and restricted in a way that Mark has never seen. From  _ him.  _

But Mark sees this shit in their line of work quite often, and it almost always results in something horrible. Something dead and not breathing. 

“Holy fuck-” Mark grabs Donghyuck’s right arm- it’s on top of his left- and drags it away, ignoring the way the teen in front of him tries to fight it. The sleeve that had been pressed against his chest is completely soaked in something warm and something wet.

Something red.

Hyuck groans, shuddering, and Mark realizes the only reason he had been able to hold himself upright was from locking himself in place with shock. Hyuck slumps suddenly and Mark quickly grasps his shoulders, stabilizing him. 

“Hyuck what happened?” Mark looks around himself quickly, trying to find something for Hyuck to lean against. Finding nothing, he opts to just lay him on the table he had been half sitting on and standing against. Mark picks him up completely, not second guessing his ability to carry him, and lays him out flat on the cold surface. “Hyuck-” Mark ignores the blood that soaks his own shirt now from being so close to him, and instead he pushes Hyuck’s blonde hair out of his face. His eyes flit back to Hyuck’s chest.

His left arm still lays across it, but with little resistance Mark removes it. 

A hole so gaping he can see inside it sits in the middle of Donghyuck’s chest. Overbearing, unforgiving, and so horrifying Mark bites back the scream rising up in his throat.

“I hit them-” Hyuck’s voice isn’t enough to pull Mark’s eyes away. “They- _ hit me back.” _ Mark pulls his jacket off, ripping at the sleeves and fashioning beautiful little clotting strips from the fabric.

“Oh yeah?” He says, finding it difficult to keep his voice level. “Looks like you got the last hit in, huh. They look pretty dead to me.” Mark works quickly, taking a serious look at the wound and trying to still his shaking hands. He’s afraid that if he  _ literally  _ puts the fabric inside he might-  _ touch-  _ something important with it. The thought makes him squirm and the thought makes him want to vomit. Neither of which he gets to do, as this is a hole in Donghyuck’s chest and this is a hole that has the very potential to kill him. Mark doesn’t get to squirm.

Hyuck makes some sort of noise that Mark thinks was supposed to be a laugh, but it’s strangled and damaged. 

“L-ucky me.” He shudders again and this time it’s worse, followed by a groan of pain that forces tears to prick the back of Mark’s eyes. He has never seen something  _ this  _ bad in a teammate, and with each second Mark knows time is growing shorter. The blood doesn’t stop coming and Hyuck looks too pale in the moonlight. Shit is not okay right now.

“Can you tell me what happened?” He says. “Again?” His vision grows blurred as the blood won’t stop and Mark realizes with each passing second what the inevitable really is. Donghyuck coughs, and instead of that just going away it gets worse and worse and blood begins to escape the corners of his lips and Mark can feel him panicking.

“Hy-ung what’s happening-”  _ Your lungs are filling up with blood. _

“You’re going to be okay.”

“I-  _ can’t breathe-”  _

Mark scrambles to the side of the table, turning Hyuck on his side towards him. This will help avoid the choking, but it won’t do much else.

“You fought really hard.” He says, other hand on the side of Hyuck’s face, making sure those amber eyes can see him. “You’re going to fall asleep in a second.” Hyuck’s wide eyes are so scared, so absolutely helpless Mark can’t stop his own shaking. He lied, blatantly, and Donghyuck might even know it if he’s  _ there  _ enough, but Mark is relying on the bloodloss to aide the illusion. 

“You did,  _ so,  _ well-” 

Hyuck’s body convulses, the teen groaning again in pain.

“Hyuck you did exactly what you needed to do and this is going to go so smoothly-”

The young boy frowns in confusion, still unable to stop the coughing and the pain and the convulsions. Mark knows, he  _ knows  _ that something is shutting down in there, but he won’t let the ocean behind his brown eyes spill, not yet. Hyuck can’t know he’s scared.

“We’re gonna go home in a second.”

 

“You’re so fucking strong.”

 

“I’m not going to move. I’m going to be right here until you fall asleep.”

Donghyuck stops shaking, just for a moment, and for one horrible second Mark thinks he lost him. But then he speaks;

_ “I- don’t want to die.” _

There’s nothing that can stop the cascading emotions in Mark now, because he knows that every single pretty lie he just told wasn’t believed. He knows Hyuck understands. 

He knows that he’s _ afraid _ .

“No-” Mark shakes his head, slow at first, and then faster with the way Donghyuck’s breathing grows even shallower. _ “No no no no-” _ He stands up, desperate for  _ anything  _ that can make it stop. Anything. But nothing jumps out. There’s no clock to reverse and no first aid kit and no doctor and  _ no fucking undo button.  _

_ God  _ if only life had an undo button.

While Mark looks, Donghyuck breathes again, and he stares at the moonlit walls where Mark’s eyes had been a second ago with a tiredness he’s never known before. 

He breathes for the last time without seeing Mark.

And it takes a whole second for Mark to realize.

“no-” 

Mark drops back down infront of him, looking into those amber eyes, searching for the boy. But nothing stares back. He leaps backwards in horror, back cracking against the wall. The pain explodes against his body, ripping through his skin but Mark can’t truly feel it, not next to the hollow beginning to eat him up. His teammate stares with glassy eyes, seeing nothing, looking empty.

Empty.

_ If you had gotten here sooner. _

Hyuck is gone.

_ Just ten seconds faster. _

Mark’s face is wet with tears he can’t feel himself crying, mouth open in a silent scream only he can hear.

_ If he hadn’t come in here alone. _

_ If you had gone with him. _

_ If this _

_ were you _

_ instead. _

Mark doesn’t care about sneakers. He doesn’t care about combat boots or the cold weather. Mark doesn’t care about two lifeless fighters on the other side of the room.

He would give anything to undo _this._

Anything.

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS AND KUDOS IM AN ATTENTION WHORE okay jk only if you want it means so much that you read my work <3 i hope you have a good day <333


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